President Donald Trump criticized Texas for its recent decision to pause approvals for new data centers. In an interview with Punchbowl News, he stated that the state is making a mistake by halting these projects, which he believes could rival the oil industry in significance.
"For Texas to say no to data centers is a mistake in the sense that it could be bigger than oil," Trump remarked.
The pause was announced by Governor Greg Abbott in early August, aimed at new data centers that wish to connect to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid. This action is intended to allow state agencies to conduct audits assessing various factors such as tax incentives, resource consumption, and community impact.
Abbott's spokesperson noted that the decision was prompted by a lack of information from the industry, with less than 10 percent of data centers providing the necessary power and water usage data.
ERCOT is currently tracking over 1,800 projects that represent more than 474 gigawatts of requested capacity, which exceeds the grid's previous peak demand by over five times. Abbott has stated that approximately 90 percent of new requests for grid connections are from data centers. The governor's office and the White House have not indicated any changes to the current order.
